The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Cutting units may be equipped with rotatable powered cutting reels and powered grooming reels or groomers useful to generate vertical grass growth and thicken the turf while cutting the grass. The groomer includes a plurality of vertically oriented and transversely spaced apart cutting blades. Each of the cutting blades includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart teeth. To properly stimulate growth of the turf, the depth of cut of the cutting blades of the groomer should be limited. In particular, it may be desirable to cut the runners and stolons of the turf to generate multiple growth points and subsequently thicken the turf. Furthermore, the groomer attempts to keep the grass growing in a vertical direction instead of a horizontal direction to improve the health, appearance and feel of the turf.
Unfortunately, some equipment operators attempt to use the groomer to verticut the turf. Verticutting differs greatly from grooming in that during verticutting the machine removes the runners and thatch to aerate the turf and provide passageways for water deeper into the turf. Verticutting typically kills a majority of the runners and stolons. Furthermore, the verticutting action requires substantially more power transfer to a set of vertically oriented blades to cut deeper into the turf and remove the runners and stolons than compared to grooming. Due to the aggressive nature of the verticutting action, this procedure is typically performed much less frequently than grass cutting and grooming. Accordingly, there may be a need for a mechanism to control the position of the groomer in relation to the position of the cutting reel to protect the turf from undesirable verticutting. Furthermore, such an adjustment mechanism may be beneficial to maintain the structural integrity of the lawn cutting and grooming apparatus.